The Most Generous Rich People You’ve Never Heard Of

By Robert Frank

The 50 top philanthropists last year gave away a total of $10.4 billion – up by more than three-fold from 2010. The Chronicle of Philanthropy says that 29 people gave away more than $50 million each in 2011.

Bloomberg News

William Dietrich II

The strange thing is, you’ve probably never heard of most of them.

Ranked first was Margaret Cargill. You might know the last name – she’s the “press shy agribusiness heiress” who inherited part of the Cargill fortune. But less known is that the Eden Prairie, Minn., resident, who died in 2006, left a bequest of around $6 billion to a charitable trust and foundation. (The bequest is credited to last year because the trust was finally able to convert its shares of the private company).

Or how about America’s second largest giver last year, William Dietrich II. Ever heard of him? Me neither. He once owned Dietrich Industries, a metal-frame manufacturing company in Pittsburgh that was founded by his dad. When he died in October, he left around $500 million to non-profits in the city and Western Pennsylvania.

Know the name David Dornsife? You probably should, because he was America’s seventh largest giver last year. He owns a steel-manufacturing company in Stockton, Calif. He and his wife, Dana, pledged $200 million to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, to support the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

The list also includes John and Julie Mork. Mr. Mork is CEO of Energy Corp of America in Denver. He and his wife donated $110 million to the University of Southern California for scholarships.

Richard Jacobson, who donated $100 million to the Mayo Clinic, is probably unknown outside of Des Moines, Iowa, where he owned a warehouse and trucking business.

Granted, there are some well-known names on the Top 50 List: Paul Allen, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Raymond Perelman and Pierre Omidyar. Gates and Buffett don’t count for last year’s top 50 tally, even though they distributed by far the most money. Their names get counted during the year of their pledge, rather than the years of distribution.

But what’s striking about the pantheon of top American givers is how little we know about any of them. They’re not in the news for buying giant homes, yachts or planes. They’re not funding Super-PACSs or spouting off about how they would run the country. And they don’t have reality shows.

The top rich givers are quiet, small-town patriarchs who made their riches in unglamorous industries like steel, natural gas and metal frames. They carry their wealth quietly and they honor the responsibilities that come with great wealth. They care about creating opportunities for others, not just for themselves.

I wish we heard more about the Dornsifes, Jacobson’s and Morks and less about the Trumps, Adelsons and Soros’s of the world. Perhaps then, America would have a more reality-based view of how the wealthy make and give away their money.

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About The Wealth Report

The Wealth Report is a daily blog focused on the culture and economy of the wealthy. It is written by Robert Frank, a senior writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of the newly released book “THE HIGH-BETA RICH.”